Pouring the wort

[phillygreen]

I'm doing a full boil 6 gallons and using mesh bags for my hops. When transferring the wort to carboy should I pour everything in? At the bottom of the pot there is a bunch of green looking sludge. Does that go in to or do I stop pouring when I get to the sludge?

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

either or....makes no difference

 

[phillygreen]

It won't give off any off favors to the beer?

 

[FATC1TY]

Nah.. Some like to keep as much junk out, could make for a clearer beer, but it's whatever you want.

You are the head brewer. Do as you choose!

 

[DrummerBoySeth]

It won't give off any off favors to the beer?

that green sludge is mostly hops. I do not consider hops an "off flavor" in beer. It will not hurt a thing. If you do not want that in your fermenter, then get a colander or strainer that fits in the top of your fermenter and pour the wort through that when putting it in the fermenting bucket. If you use a carboy for fermenting, you could use the same method to filter the wort into your bottling bucket, then transfer again to the carboy.

 

[phillygreen]

Thanks for the info!!!

 

[onipar]

The reason many try to keep that sludge out is actually to decrease the "wort loss." All of that material will settle at the bottom of your fermenter, but if there's a lot of trub, you may only get 4.5 gallons from your 5 gallon batch.

Some brewers simply increase their batches to 5.5 gallons to account for loss. Others try keeping the excess sludge out through various methods (whirl pooling, false bottoms, hop blockers, etc), but in the end it's like the others said: it's really up to you.

 

[Jayhem]

The reason many try to keep that sludge out is actually to decrease the "wort loss." All of that material will settle at the bottom of your fermenter, but if there's a lot of trub, you may only get 4.5 gallons from your 5 gallon batch.

Some brewers simply increase their batches to 5.5 gallons to account for loss. Others try keeping the excess sludge out through various methods (whirl pooling, false bottoms, hop blockers, etc), but in the end it's like the others said: it's really up to you.

I'm not sure I understand how loosing beer with sludge after the boil is any different from trub loss after fermenting. You would still be loosing the same amount of beer either way. Pay me now or pay me later.

Unless of course you actually strain your post boil break material to get as much liquid out as possible...

 

[onipar]

I'm not sure I understand how loosing beer with sludge after the boil is any different from trub loss after fermenting. You would still be loosing the same amount of beer either way. Pay me now or pay me later.

Unless of course you actually strain your post boil break material to get as much liquid out as possible...

*Shrug.* Just reporting what people do. I understand your point, but I imagine you can get more of the liquid post boil than you can post fermentation. At least in my experience that seems true. When I didn't strain (I use a grain bag that I pour my wort through, easiest and cheapest way for me), I'd regularly end up with at least .5 gallons loss. When I strained, it was nearly the full 5 gallons.

I'm sure other factors are involved, such as how tightly packed the yeast cake is. It's possible that a large amount of hop trub doesn't pack down as tight as pure yeast, causing more loss of wort?

I admit I may have missed the point of *why* people do it, but there's certainly no debate that plenty brewers spend a lot of time and/or money to remove unwanted material from the wort prior to fermenting.

 

[heferly]

^yeast harvesting

 

[blakelyc]

I have brewed the same beer twice, once dumping in all the crap, once whirlpooling and straining. The whirlpool & strained beer clarified much sooner than the other. There were also minor flavor differences, but I think those are probably attributable to subtle differences between brew days.